Low-price weekly New!, which launched in February, debuted with an ABC circulation of 339,035. Closer, which launched last year, came close behind with 334,542, despite having had longer to build reader loyalty and even dropping its price to help limit the damage of Desmond's latest launch.
At the top of celebrity weekly market, Now's lead over Heat narrowed as the IPC title dropped 6.3%, from last period, but was still up 3.6% on a year ago to 590,544.
The popularity of Emap's Heat continued to grow, albeit at a slower pace this time around. Period on period, it rose 2% to 565,484, a year-on-year leap of 18.1%.
The dominance of the mid-market titles in the celebrity sector contrasts with a dire set of results among upmarket glossies OK! and Hello!.
Hello! was down 36.5% from last period to 347,461 and recorded a year-on-year fall of 32.9%.
The magazine has taken steps to turn its fortunes around and has shaken up its editorial team and appointed its former art editor Ronnie Whelan as editor. The results of her appointment will no doubt be closely watched next period.
OK! was down 22.6% period on period to 489,882, a year-on-year drop of 14.8% despite distributing 70,000 bulk copies.
Among the downmarket weeklies, H Bauer's Take a Break was still the clear leader with 1,225,116, up 1.7% on last period, a 1.5% rise on a year ago. Sister title Bella fell 7% from last period to 398,009, a year-on-year fall of 10.5%.
Rival Best, published by the National Magazine Company, was down just 0.3% on last period to 414,739, a year-on-year fall of 2.3%.
IPC's older women's weeklies Woman's Weekly and Woman were also down. Woman's Weekly fell 4.2% on last period to 465,500, down 6.6% on last year's figure. Woman slid 10.4% on last period to 571,482, a 9.5% drop year on year, however, the figure will have been effected by IPC's decision to strip out bulk copies this time.
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